PANAMA CITY BEACH — Local first responders soon will have a new, state-of-the-art training facility on Panama City Beach.
City Council members last week approved a $1.276 million agreement with Highland Wake Construction, a general contractor based in Panama City Beach, to build a firefighter training tower.
“The tower (will) allow our firefighters to train in an active scenario in a controlled environment,” Councilman Michael Jarman said. “It’s important that they have the resources available to them to train because the more training that a department has, the better they can serve, protect and save the lives of those in the community.”
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According to Chief Ray Morgan of Panama City Beach Fire Rescue, the tower will have four stories, each designed to give firefighters a different training environment. This will allow training for fires in residential, high-rise and commercial properties.
About half of the facility will be funded by a $600,000 grant from the Florida Legislature. The rest will be paid for by the city and local impact fees, Morgan said.
“Our firefighters, like all firefighters, are exposed to a number of different elements that you may not foresee as threats or hazards, so it’s paramount that they’re trained in all aspects of any type of emergency that could arise,” he said. “Having our own facility on this Beach allows us to keep our protective assets on the Beach without having to send them off the island.”
The tower also will be used by other local agencies, including the Panama City Beach Police Department, which will practice search-and-rescue missions and tactical entrees.
Panama City Beach firefighter training tower has been planned for two years
For Morgan, who has worked with Panama City Beach Fire Rescue for two decades, it is “super exciting” to finally get to the point where construction of the facility is around the corner.
He said the tower has been in the works for the past two years. Construction should break ground near the beginning of 2023 and take less than a year to complete.
“I’ve been with (PCB Fire Rescue) for 20 years … and it’s always been an issue for us to not have a adequate and proper place to train,” Morgan said. “We’ve always had to improvise with training.
“To finally get to a point where we’re actually going to build something to actually train our people in … feels like we’ve finally accomplished something that’s valuable and our community is going to directly benefit from.”